Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this thirteen-minute talk from 1987, Choedak introduces the psychological foundations of Vajrayāna practice and lays out four critical attachments practitioners must release to avoid spiritual dead ends. He emphasizes that Vajrayāna’s power lies in its adaptability to different temperaments and afflictions, yet cautions that this very appeal can seduce practitioners into wrong motivation. The four attachments are: seeking worldly benefit in this lifetime; hoping for rebirth in favourable circumstances; pursuing personal liberation; and clinging to Vajrayāna itself as the only true path. Choedak illustrates these principles through the story of the young sage Sachin Kunga Ningpo, to whom the deity Mañjuśrī appeared and directly transmitted these four essential warnings. He grounds the teaching in the Gelugpa framework of renunciation, bodhicitta, and understanding emptiness, showing how genuine disgust with suffering and ignorance becomes the fuel for authentic practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 VP.mp3
UUID: 3bb630d7-7762-48f5-b8b7-ca0821c14fdd
Teacher: Choedak
Collection: Intro to Vajrayāna Psychology (Choedak)
Date: 1987 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Words: ~1,418
Welcome back. I hope I didn’t confuse you last night. I’m afraid I can’t clarify if I did because we are jumping to a new subject. We have been looking at the fundamental basis of vajrayana psychology. It’s integral it is integral path of the teachings of the Buddha, and yet how what it offers as a skillful technique in addition to the already existing techniques in Theravāda and Mahāyāna traditions.
How they can how if a person under by understanding this skillfully, can actually use these skillful techniques. And we almost came to understanding that, to a state that, what if I could do that? Almost as if we would like to do that if you possibly could do it right now. So that is the vajrayana’s special attractive quality. It’s there is a great temptation in vajrayana practices because it it offers multidimensional practices.
It doesn’t only offers one technique, whether you like it or not, but it offers techniques that are suited to different mentality. Even if you you suited to one particular personality, the predominant personality of yours is such as arrogance. There’s a particular practice suited to that. So you don’t have to really feel negative about it, and you can’t possibly think how how I’m going to make progress. This because you’re arrogant, you can make use of it.
And that’s the technique in vajrayana teaching teaches. But even though there is this tempting quality in vajrayana teachings, it’s very important that we have to make sure that we shouldn’t we should always have to have the reference point. Whether these esoteric methods of vajrayan teachings are always related to the to the initial teachings of Buddha. To to to make sure these one has ascertain repeatedly your own mode of approaching to vajrayana practice, the motivation. There’s a four very special things that one shouldn’t get attached to to make it spiritual practice in general, in particular making it teachings of Buddha.
So providing that you you are you’re keeping yourself within that range and not getting attached to these four extremes, then it necessarily becomes the teachings, authentic teachings. For so, therefore, I would like to show you these four extremes to which one should not, one shouldn’t develop attachment. One is, if you are tempted and have been fortunate and wise and intelligent or probably stupid enough to accept vajrayana teachings, then you have to reach to the level of examining yourself that you are not attached to this for for this pursuits of this particular life. If one is practicing vajrayana teachings merely with a hope and an expectation for the betterment of this life, then it doesn’t become vajrayana practice. We have to say, I’m sorry, you’re not the right person to practice.
So one shouldn’t get attached to this life, and therefore the practice that we practice on basis vajrayana or Mahāyāna or Hīnayāna, expecting for the happiness or achievements for this life only doesn’t fit in the spiritual path. So that’s one attachment that one must let go if one were to take advantage of vajrayana teachings. The second thing is one shouldn’t get attached to be reborn in this world. So one shouldn’t practice vajrayana with the hope that you’d be you’d be reborn in a better or a more suitable rebirth, so that you can come back. Such a motivation shouldn’t develop to practice vajrayana unless you develop the Mahāyāna Bodhisattva’s motivation of seeing the immensity of human and sentient beings suffering, so therefore you want to come back.
Not a mere wish of yourself attached to any worldly existence and rebirth, thus wanting to create good causes so that you can be reborn in such circumstances. With such a motivation, if one practices, then vajrayana has no place either. So that’s the second attachment one must get to let go. And practicing vajrayana for your own enlightenment, that is also one of the third third attachment. One shouldn’t get attached for one’s own liberation because firstly, it is against bodhisattva ideal.
Secondly, it is against vajrayana ideal. vajrayana ideal says you’re already enlightened. So the effort that you you you put in terms of gaining self liberation is is against the whole aim of spiritual practices. So therefore, as I said yesterday, that vajrayana necessarily falls into Buddhist teachings necessarily, and particularly is a branch of the Mahāyāna teachings. Mahāyāna teachings main emphasis is caring other living beings, so therefore, aim of one’s practicing for one’s own liberation is the third attachment that one must let go to make if one were to become a vajrayana practitioner.
Fourth, and probably most important thing to which one shouldn’t get attached to, is the view of anything that vajrayana practice itself shouldn’t you get attached to. You shouldn’t get attached that vajrayana is terrific. This is my kind of path. And then having no room whatsoever to appreciate any other teachings. That kind of attachment to any clinging is no right view.
clinging and grasping is no right view. So should you find any suitable path, you never should get attached to it, clinging. So vajrayana path, it should what you appreciate or practice, whatever you practice, if you get attached to it, clinging to it, and that’s becoming very narrow and having no room to accommodate any form of other teachings. And that is, again, the worst extreme of vajrayana practice. So providing that we can keep ourselves away from these four extremes, then we can probably continue discussing about guru, disciple, and initiation, and how does actual vajrayana practices help we, as an ordinary being, to develop and achieve these results.
So that actually is very important. This is most hardest, probably. The hardest thing is to be free ourselves from these four attachments. These four attachments, although is essence of all the teachings, essence of all the teachings, was not quite distinctively shown until one great teacher called Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, when he was meditating on the practice of Mañjuśrī at the age of twelve, who himself is actually emanation of Avalokiteśvara. When he was instructed by his teacher to meditate on Mañjuśrī, after many years of meditation, Mañjuśrī appeared in front of this twelve year old boy meditator, and Mañjuśrī told in his words, if you got attached to this life, then you don’t fit any spiritual path.
If you get attached to this mundane, this world, and wanting to be reborn in this world again, then then that is not renunciation. If you get attached, if you do the practices for your own self liberation, then that is not bodhicitta. That’s not loving kindness. And clinging onto a view is not right view. So these were the four things that made Mañjuśrī actually said to this twelve year old boy, who with his great surprise, this Mañjuśrī all of a sudden, say these four lines and disappeared.
So it took long for many great scholars to review and research on these four topics and has developed a teaching called four, Parting from the Four Attachments. This is essence. In Gelukpa tradition, these very four teachings are known as three principles of the path. Renunciation, bodhicitta, and understanding of emptiness. And however, they are very same, very similar to the four attachment.
So this has to be the very main important to make ourself a suitable practice, to be a suitable practitioner of vajrayana. If we do not have the renunciation, some kind of understanding of the basic teaching that the approach of happiness that we have been seeking through is totally confused mind. Because the mind is confused, we are in fact creating causes of suffering rather than causes of happiness. With this sense of renunciation, renouncing from one’s attachment, ignorance, and greed, and all kind of defilements, Seeing them as causes of suffering, that’s renunciation. Not so much you give up certain luxury of your life and then think and change your lifestyle, that that might change, you know, our external appearance of ours, but we have to really get disgusted with the defilements.
That renunciation is very important. Without that, then it’s very difficult to make any spiritual path and vajrayana path very beneficial to oneself. I was talking yesterday about the burnable quality. We have to be dry so that we can be burnt. So these are the characteristic teaching, understanding that will make ourself burnable if if there was existing a bright sun and magnifying